The Greenlining Institute, along with GRID Alternatives and Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN), filed public comment with California’s Strategic Growth Council regarding the Draft Investment Plan for the new Climate Change Research Program. We made recommendations to ensure that equity is built into the program, and that research projects directly benefit low-income, disadvantaged, and vulnerable communities.

The Greenlining Institute, The Utility Reform Network, and National Association of State Utility Advocates, filed a Petition for Review with the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. The petition asks the court to reverse and vacate the Federal Communications Commission’s November Order rolling back the agency’s consumer protections for Americans on legacy copper phone lines.

The Federal Communication Commission’s (FCC) Anti-Net Neutrality proposal will see the FCC hand its consumer protection duties to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). However, a pending court case makes it unclear whether the FTC has jurisdiction over anti-consumer actions by telecom companies like AT&T. Consumer groups like Greenlining and Public Knowledge sent a letter to the FCC asking it to protect consumers and delay the Net Neutrality vote until this legal issue is determined by the courts.

After a thorough review, Greenlining found that Care1st, a subsidiary of nonprofit health plan Blue Shield of California, accrued excessive profits after it was acquired by Blue Shield and converted into a nonprofit. Greenlining calls on the DMHC and DHCS to demand that Blue Shield live up to its mission as a nonprofit health plan and return these profits to the community.

The Greenlining Institute signed on to an effort led by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition to push for wider data disclosure for home lending in order to shed light on racially inequitable lending practices nationwide. Read the letter here.

On October 3rd, The Greenlining Institute submitted a comment letter to the Federal Reserve Board regarding its proposed guidance on supervisory expectations for an effective board of directors. The proposal notes that an effective board should be “composed of directors with a diversity of skills, knowledge, experience, and perspectives.” While this language offers guidance around the importance of a diverse board, it does not explicitly name racial, ethnic and gender diversity as important considerations in creating a diverse board. Greenlining requested that this explicit language be included in the proposed guidance. Read it here.

The Greenlining Institute filed public comment with the California Energy Commission regarding its Block Grant for electric vehicle charger incentive projects. We made recommendations to ensure incentive projects coming out of this Block Grant promote EV access for low- and moderate-income households and promote good jobs and job training for low-income workers and contracting opportunities for minority-owned businesses. Read it here.

The California Environmental Justice Alliance and The Greenlining Institute jointly filed comments with the California Public Utilities Commission on promoting clean energy research in low-income and disadvantaged communities. Read more here.

On September 14th, The Greenlining Institute submitted a letter to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, along with 33 nonprofits, Chambers of Commerce, and business associations, strongly urging the CFPB to implement Section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act. The rule amends the Equal Credit Opportunity Act to require financial institutions to compile, maintain, and report critical information about small business lending activity including an applicant’s race, ethnicity, and gender. Section 1071 will be critical in ensuring fair access to capital for small, women- and minority-owned businesses. Read the letter here.

Removing Barriers, Creating Economic Opportunity

About The Greenlining Institute

Founded in 1993, The Greenlining Institute envisions a nation where communities of color thrive and race is never a barrier to economic opportunity. We advance economic opportunity for people of color through advocacy, community and coalition building, research, and leadership development. We work on a variety of major policy issues because economic opportunity doesn’t operate in a vacuum. Rather than seeing these issues as being in separate silos, Greenlining views them as interconnected threads in a web of opportunity. The Greenlining Institute is a 501(C)(3) nonprofit registered in the US under EIN: 94-3173571.